259 -254- The conflict

Janna unleashed her full power, maximizing her divine form, and holy white light radiated from her, making her appear perfect and illuminating the night.

In the Serpent Isles, countless people witnessed these two enormous "deity."

However, anyone who saw Janna and Nagakabouros's forms would perceive the latter as the antagonist.

"I know you, a tiny sprite, a creation of empty faith."

Nagakabouros stood upright, her massive form towering, and the countless "beards" around the bearded lady's chin began to sway. The air around her twisted, spun, and produced numerous small black spheres that swirled and enlarged around her body.

Illaoi heard Mother Serpent's words, looked at the holy light behind the sorceress, and furrowed her brow.

Nagakabouros was the god of life and motion, but could gods created by faith really be considered true deities?

Like Mother Serpent, despite having followers, she didn't rely on them to become powerful. The strength of a god came from inherent power, and the existence of Buhru followers was more about promoting bearded lady's deeds to garner more souls.

Moreover, if a god had to intervene in everything, could they still be called deities? This was perhaps the clash between reality and unreality.

Nagakabouros harbored enmity towards all such beings.

Under Janna's figure, Linwin looked at bearded lady, seeing her surrounded by black spheres, resembling a Serpent-themed version of Syndra. Linwin couldn't help but twitch his mouth involuntarily.

A single black sphere from Nagakabouros had made Linwin feel threatened with death; now, with countless spheres, the threat was incomprehensible.

Linwin scratched his head, realizing that he was indeed quite strong now, able to effectively withstand the attacks of demigods. However, if these demigods were to get serious, Linwin wouldn't stand a chance.

Janna, somewhat uneasy, glanced at the ugly bearded lady, her voice carried away by the wind, whispering softly in Linwin's ear.

The Ancient Bird seemed to be murmuring to itself.

"Why did you provoke her? I met her a thousand years ago. I almost got eaten by her for disturbing her swimming in space."

"What about now?" Linwin immediately asked.

"Now? I'm still a bit wary of her."

Linwin was about to nod, thinking that although Janna became powerful quickly, compared to the primal deities that existed when Runeterra was formed, she was still too immature.

But Janna's voice rang in Linwin's ear again.

"But I'll try. I'll protect you."

"I'm already very powerful."

With that, Janna took the initiative.

Waving her staff lightly, Janna summoned a storm, clouds gathered, thunder crackled around the storm, and the sea surged upward, forming a hundred-meter-high wave behind Janna, like a curtain of sea.

"Come."

Janna aimed her staff at Nagakabouros, her body slowly rising, her voice ethereal and indifferent, which made Nagakabouros across from her sneer.

She had seen this weak sprite before, when she couldn't even be called a god. Although she now brimmed with divine power, Nagakabouros was not intimidated.

She was not her match.

Janna, on the other hand, silently stared at the bearded lady's countless eyes; their battlefield would not be here.

In a moment, Nagakabouros shattered the space in front of her, the air emitting the sound of breaking glass, and a crackled mirror, tens of meters in size, appeared in front of her. Her massive body swam into the tiny space crack.

In people's vision, the air seemed to become visible, and they could vaguely see the giant figure swimming within, resembling a serpent in water.

Janna's massive form also turned into light and shadow, then disappeared without a trace.

After the gods vanished for a moment.

"Boom!!!"

Heavy rain poured from the sky, and the sky rumbled.

"Whoosh!!!"

Linwin no longer hesitated, quickly flying towards the position of Bilgewater.

Behind him, in the Serpent's Hold, this ancient sea suddenly appeared with countless enormous water pillars, surging towards the sky and descending from the heavens like columns of water. Lightning rain pierced through the clouds of Bilgewater's misty sky.

"Hiss!"

Like a snake hissing, in the sky above, thunder roared, countless "lightnings" flickered, carrying numerous large black spheres. These spheres gathered the clouds one by one, obscuring the view of the battle in the sky. With his superhuman vision and perception, Linwin could only see a massive, illusory serpent's figure and its countless lightning tentacles swaying.

Large raindrops or seawater splattered on him, but Linwin didn't hesitate.

His speed flying towards Bilgewater increased.

The thunder above dimmed for a moment, and the giant figure disappeared.

But the next moment, "Crack!"

It sounded like something was being flipped over or the sky was being pierced.

A pair of wings stirred up an endless storm, scattering the clouds for miles around. At that moment, everyone could see, high above Bilgewater, an incredibly massive, majestic azure bird raised its neck. On her talons were pieces huge, jet-black scales, still dripping with dark green blood. Its azure wings flapped forcefully, creating countless enormous arrows of wind, even from this distance.

It was Janna.

She transformed into the azure bird, causing a storm and hooked out Mother Serpent's body with her talons, bringing down pieces of shattered scales.

"Sizzle, sizzle."

The dense sound spread, and the black spheres once again clustered the clouds, making it impossible for people to see the scene in the sky.

"Halt!"

On the dilapidated Bilgewater, Illaoi stood like an iron pillar amidst the ruins, her eyes blazing as she stared at Linwin.

This was no longer Sarah and Plank's affair.

The matters between Sarah, Plank, and the mortals weren't worth Mother Serpent's battle.

Now, it was a matter between two gods and their followers.

This was a battle between gods!

"Get out of my way!"

Although heavily wounded by Nagakabouros, the Ascended power within him had receded, and now using Ascended power once in a few days wouldn't have side effects on Linwin.

It's just that if he used it a second time in a day...

"Swish!"

Golden light wrapped around his body, and Linwin, in his giant form, swung his sword fiercely at Illaoi.

He will have to use the power of ascendent the second time!

His organs ached, but Linwin endured the pain, swinging the greatsword towards Illaoi.

At this moment, he didn't care what Bilgewater would become after Illaoi's death.

But Illaoi fearlessly smashed the statue onto the ground, and the shattered statue burst with brilliance, bursting out countless enormous tentacles.

Her orange eyes turned into emerald green, and Illaoi's body was enveloped in black mist. As her hands waved, the surrounding tentacles also moved with her.

"Damn it!"

Linwin looked at those black-green tentacles and spat forcefully.

There was actually a part of Nagakabouros's power in this broken statue?!

"Twisted!"

While fighting Illaoi, Linwin suddenly roared violently, and the wind magic carried his voice far away.

Then, Linwin calmed down and began to calmly confront Illaoi, empowered by Nagakabouros.

And after a dozen seconds of Linwin's confrontation, in the mostly destroyed Bilgewater, in an alleyway, a burst of wind sounded.

"Rally, stay on low-altitude!"

Enforcer Jack held Sarah's arm in one hand and another crew member's arm in the other, flying westward.

Graves tethered his gun to his back, tightly gripping Rafen's arm.

Under Linwin's roar, Twisted immediately understood Linwin's meaning.

Now, with the Sea Goddess Nagakabouros entangled by the Wind Goddess Janna and Illaoi by Linwin, no one could stop the flying Enforcers from leaving. 

As long as they left, Linwin would have no constraints and could quickly retreat, and once he retreated, Janna could follow suit.

As for Bilgewater...

Twisted no longer knew if Bilgewater will still be Bilgewater.

This island was constantly being washed by waves and storms, and now it had deviated from its original position.

The Serpent Isles had also changed!

After this night, Bilgewater might disappear into the river of history!

Linwin glanced back at the flying Enforcers and the scene in the clouds.

There, thunder rumbled, and the wind howled. 

---

In the depths of Shurima, inside a house covered by yellow sand, the scholar put down his books, looked up at the roof in confusion, and after a moment of thought, Nasus walked out of the door.

Under the night sky, Nasus quietly looked up at the heavens.

Then he murmured softly, "Jan'ahrem? Is that you?"

When did she become so bold and fierce?

Just as Nasus thought this, he immediately shook his head with a bitter smile.

No, she has always been such a deity, willing to sacrifice everything for her followers.

The people of Zaun and Piltover deeply love her and believe in her.

And she loves every person in this city deeply.

She is a deity who truly loves humanity.

————

At a distance peak, the colossal figures whose faces couldn't be seen gathered in the starry sky, silently watching the battle above the sea.

This was a battle that even they would be amazed by.

From their perspective, the scope of the battle between these two gods had expanded to the surrounding lands, west to the dense forests of Kumungu, north to the ports of Noxus, and east to the abandoned islands of Ionia.

"Powerful demigods. Stronger than we thought."

"Do we need to intervene in this matter?"

"No need. We have other things to do, and this continent will find its own way."

"But the people on that island will die."

"What's that got to do with us?"

In a dense jungle in Kumungu,

"So noisy! Can't sleep! So annoying! Why is it like this!"

Muffled voices sounded from a certain tree, followed by a lively figure darting around. She ran up to the top of a tall tree, sat crookedly on the high trunk, and began to gaze into the distant sky above the ocean.

"Snap!"

Magically sensing the situation in the distance, she jumped in shock, immediately hugged her head, buried it against the trunk, trembling, and her long tail curled up, wrapping around her small body.

"So scary."

"Nidalee, where are you, neeko is so scared...."

On the road from Kumungu to Icathia, a colossal figure tapped its large head, suddenly sensing the earth beneath its feet moaning, a stunning battle affecting the land of Shurima, and this action was an attempt to provoke it.

"Such a powerful dark force!"

The towering figure spoke with a deep voice.

"But the Lava Giant will destroy all the minions of darkness!"

At its feet, a vine tried to entangle its thick ankle, but soon, the vine silently retreated.

Because it had walked out of Kumungu.

Out of its territory.

Meanwhile, in the frigid tundra.

A giant furnace stopped its clanging sound for a moment, then resumed its continuous ringing.

In the tundra, lightning flickered, and a figure covered in countless scars slowly stood up.

From the deep palace came a faint sigh, icy and piercing.

Wolves howled, boars charged, sheep sighed lightly, foxes showed curious eyes, and deer gathered their antlers.

Armor clashed against the ground, murmurs echoed continuously.

The owner of the Frozen Tomb moved her body slightly, reluctantly changed positions to continue sleeping because she was still just an egg.

On the tundra, a mage carrying a giant scroll on his back frowned, turned his head to look at the distant sky, sensing the power there, and then shook his head.

Ionia.

Noxus.

Demacia.

Countless powerful beings sensed this conflict.

But none of them would intervene in this battle.

Because no one could confidently say that they could defeat these two deities, so they chose to quietly watch, watching this battle that had not occurred in a thousand years.

The gods chose to watch from afar.

But humans were rising up in resistance.

---

"Team Three, everyone is ready!"

The sturdy Enforcer captain roared loudly.

"Professor, Viktor, bring out that thing, even though it's still incomplete, but we need it now!"

"Have Silco bring out all the weapons hidden in Zaun: Hextech Bombs, Alchemical weapons, bring them all out!"

"The Hex Gates won't stop, but for these days, it will only run for the Twin Cities!"

"Powder can go with them, but she'll be on the back of the ship. Make sure Vi protects her all the way! We wouldn't want to lose her along the way!"

The towering man wielded his warhammer, issuing commands outwardly in the center of Piltover.

In Piltover and Zaun, thousands of Enforcers armed themselves, and magical weapons were loaded onto airships.

Nevertheless, there were still people running upward in the Undercity, and supplies being transported in the Upper City.

Weapons like the Crossneedle Hextech Railgun, three-meter-long Hextech Metal Cannons, highly destructive alchemical shells, and a huge piece of technology covered in a tarp, carried by hundreds of people onto the Hextech airship.

Twenty-one airships were fully armed, and all weapons and protective devices would be taken on board.

Jayce stood on the first ship, taking a deep breath. His Mercury Hammer changed shape, and he roared fiercely:

"Alright, let's move out!"